A dress designed by a Collin County teenager is attracting a lot of attention, but when she entered it in a contest at the State Fair of Texas, she was disqualified.
Kaylee Rodgers, 17, spent days making the dress from 40 decks of playing cards her mother brought home from work.
“One of their partners is Amazon, and they gave them a stack of cards that would have otherwise been thrown away, and she brought them to my house,” Rodgers explained.
Inspired by a Pinterest post, Rodgers began sewing, stapling and gluing her masterpiece, which she submitted to the Designers Craftsman Junior Division – Recycled and Found Items contest at the State Fair.
“And they said, ‘Hey, you have to pick up your dress. It’s disqualified. It’s too big,'” Rodgers said.
She says she was disappointed, but knew that the size of submissions was limited by the rules.
“It was a fair disqualification because I don’t want to be in a competition where someone bends the rules and wins when I followed all the rules. So I definitely think it’s a fair disqualification, but it had a worse outcome,” Rodgers said.
A photo of the dress, which her mother shared online, has now gone around the world.
“Some people have called the fair and said to boycott the fair. Please don’t do that. We love the fair,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers says she is in talks with a casino and a museum to display the dress, and perhaps the dress will be on display at the State Fair after all.
“It was a fair disqualification and they’re still trying to find a way to use me, which is incredible,” said Rodgers, who is making the most of the cards she’s been dealt. “I’m very proud of it,” Rodgers said.
